Already 74 participants – Two wins and a podium for the BMW S 1000 RR racers in Assen and Valencia

Munich (DE), 20th April 2016. The 2016 BMW Motorrad Race Trophy is getting into full swing: more than 70 participants have already registered for this unique competition for BMW racers from all around the world, and the first standings of the new season have been revealed. Last weekend, the BMW S 1000 RR was successful again in several championships, including two wins and a podium in the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup (STK1000) and the FIM CEV Superbike European Championship (CEV).

2016 BMW Motorrad Race Trophy.
The global interest in the BMW Motorrad Race Trophy is enormous: in the first weeks of the 2016 season, no less than 74 BMW racers from 18 different countries on four continents have registered to participate. They compete for 37 different teams in 19 different championship classes. The numbers are expected to increase significantly as registration is open until 30th June 2016, and in many racing series valid for the Race Trophy the season is only about to start.

The first standings of the 2016 BMW Motorrad Race Trophy sees two leaders: Dominik Vincon (DE) and Stefan Kerschbaumer (AT), who share the Völpker NRT48 by Schubert Motors BMW S 1000 RR in the Superstock class of the FIM Endurance World Championship (EWC STK), top the first classification with 100.95 points each. Third place is currently held by Raffaele De Rosa (IT / STK1000) with 76.22 points (see full standings below).

In 2016 the BMW Motorrad Race Trophy comprises of a total of 28 classes in 21 international and national championships. Participants in the BMW Motorrad Race Trophy can compete in multiple championships. The points scored in the different championships are calculated separately for each individual race series. The current standings only include points from the race series in which the participant has scored the most Race Trophy points.

MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship in Assen, the Netherlands.
The fourth round of the 2016 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) was held at the famous TT Circuit in Assen (NL) last weekend. Track action was massively influenced by extremely unpredictable weather with sun, rain and even hail that resulted in permanently changing conditions.

Race one on Saturday was held on a dry track. Jordi Torres (ES) of Althea BMW Racing Team repeated his strong result from his home round two weeks ago at MotorLand Aragón and finished fifth. His team-mate Markus Reiterberger (DE) was also fighting for the top six on his BMW S 1000 RR, a ride through the gravel when avoiding an other rival, however, cost him some time and he crossed the line in seventh. Milwaukee BMW rider Josh Brookes (AU) was 11th, his team-mate Karel Abraham (CZ) retired due to a technical problem.

For Sunday’s second race, conditions had been extremely difficult. After rain and hail, the track was wet in the early stages but quickly dried. This made tyre choice a lottery and most of the riders headed to the pits during the race to change from wet or intermediate tyres to slicks. Milwaukee BMW rider Brookes, who had already set a strong fifth fastest time in the dry warm-up, shone with a brilliant performance on the damp track. Coming from 14th on the grid, he stormed to the front and led for several laps. For Brookes, these were his first leading laps in the WorldSBK. He was, however, denied the reward for this performance, as he lost the front shortly after he had changed to slicks on a still damp patch and fell. Abraham, Torres and Reiterberger ended this extremely difficult race in 14th, 15th and 16th respectively.

Matthieu Lussiana (FR) once more raced in the WorldSBK on the BMW S 1000 RR Superstock version of Team ASPI. Finishing 15th in race one, he collected his first world championship point. In race two, he crossed the line in 17th.

FIM Superstock 1000 Cup in Assen, the Netherlands.
The TT Circuit in Assen also was the venue for the second race of the 2016 FIM Superstock 1000 Cup (STK1000). The spectators in the grandstands witnessed a dominant win by Althea BMW rider Raffaele De Rosa (IT). He defied all this race’s difficult circumstances to celebrate his first victory of the season. After two red flags, the race finally started at the third attempt, however, with tricky conditions on a track that was drying more and more and it was shortened to nine laps. De Rosa took the lead on lap three and pulled away from the rest of the field on his BMW S 1000 RR. At the finish line, he had an advantage of over ten seconds over his closest rival. Luca Vitali (IT / Team 2R Racing) also collected points, finishing 12th.

FIM CEV Superbike European Championship in Valencia, Spain.
The season opener of the FIM CEV Superbike European Championship (CEV) saw a great result for the Targobank EasyRace team. In a closely fought race, young Chilean Maximilian Scheib celebrated his first ever victory in the series. He was joined on the podium by his new team-mate Santi Barragán (ES) in third. Barragán had secured pole position on his BMW S 1000 RR on Saturday and was also battling for the win, but lost some time when going wide in the closing stages of the race. Adrián Bonastre (ES), who was in action for the Proelit DR7 team, came home sixth on his RR. The other Proelit DR7 rider, Pedro Rodriguez (ES) was tenth. Roberto Blazquez (ES / ACR Competición) also scored a point by crossing the line in 15th.

Motoamerica FIM/AMA North American Road Racing Series in Braselton, US
Just one week after the 2016 curtain raiser at Austin (US), the Motoamerica FIM/AMA North American Road Racing Series held its second round at Road Atlanta in Braselton (US) this weekend. At the Scheibe Racing team, Tomas Puerta (CO) stood in for regular rider Steve Rapp (US), who was not able to compete due to other professional commitments. Puerta finished both races in the points, crossing the line in 13th and 15th respectively.